Super Righteous Player
Chapter 1143 - 194: The Reason for Despair

Chapter 1143: Chapter 194: The Reason for Despair

"This nightmare..."

Annan furrowed his brows.

He sensed profound malice in it.

Isaac, known for his rationality and composure, was the Tower Master. The title "Jade Record" was a praise of his erudition and reason. He had spent his whole life progressing on the path of exhausting the truths.

Yet, he was fitted with a cognitive filter, acting foolishly—gradually draining the entire world and sending himself to hell.

Ofelia, on the other hand, was a true poet, a sincere bard. For the freedom to sing, he would even give up his right to the throne and his life of extravagant indulgence.

He could almost be said to have no desires—and yet, he was thrown into a silver-grey, utterly cold world.

According to Annan’s observations of Ofelia’s world, the mechanical lifeforms there harbored no hostility toward organic beings; they could even be considered respectful and caring... similar to how "rogue mechanical servants" treat organic settings.

For this reason, Ofelia wasn’t plunged into absolute fear and despair. He wasn’t hunted or attacked. His movements were completely unrestricted.

This allowed him to sing and walk on the streets, hopefully searching for his kind. of course, he found nothing.

If he ordered those robots to listen to his performance, they would likely obey. But this brought Ofelia no feedback—only endless emptiness.

When he tried to harm himself or contemplated ending his life, those robots would immediately prevent it.

It was like the situation he once escaped in Dennisiowa.

Only far more severe, more extreme.

—That was the fear hidden deep in Ofelia’s heart.

Even in the face of death, he was ready to confront it—the moment he decided to step into this Otherworld-level nightmare, Ofelia did not expect to return alive.

"I’m not afraid of death... he surely wouldn’t hang me up and torture me, right?"

That was what Ofelia thought.

And then he faced true despair.

Unable to get injured, unable to die, yet forever unable to receive a genuine response. No matter how he sang or what he did, he heard no reply.

If Ofelia really came to such a world, he could simply give up thinking and live like a walking corpse.

—but he couldn’t.

Because he came on a mission.

He held knowledge that could instantly obliterate Ingrid even in an Otherworld-level nightmare. Just by reciting this knowledge in front of Ingrid, she would be destroyed.

Thus, Ofelia had to find his companions, or at least find Ingrid.

Because Ofelia had no intelligence. He didn’t know that he and Annan were actually not in the same world... or rather, they were not on the same map.

Thus, Ofelia could only meaninglessly search for companions he would never find.

In this process, Ofelia’s fire of courage would gradually extinguish, his light of will would gradually wear away. His steps would become increasingly slow, his convictions increasingly unstable.

What was once loved became wearisome, everything cherished gradually turned to nothingness. Even his beloved path of music might spawn aversion or even cause physical nausea due to the lack of any response.

There was no need to harm his physical body.

This was a lingering torture of the spirit.

And if we deduce back from Ofelia’s situation...

It likely was a similar case for Isaac.

With Isaac’s rationality, he would eventually start to investigate and research. As his understanding of that world deepened, the cognitive filter enshrouding him would probably grow weaker.

His good thoughts, words, and deeds were twisted and corrupted. Everything he researched was meaningless, his struggle only accelerated the world’s demise—if this world were without him, it might even be better.

This was an act of folly.

And when he truly realized what he had done, what he had been doing... he would face the real test.

Does he continue the actions he began with?

Has he killed his own companions by his own hands?

Do his actions, his battles, have meaning?

Does "truth" exist in this world?

"Although it’s meaningless. But I still want to do something for my son... for Nicholas."

At that time, Isaac said to Annan.

Of course, he knew that he was a hypocritical entity, merely a puppet created using parts of other people’s memories.

—Because his life was meaningless, he sought meaning even more tenaciously.

He despised the meaningless conflicts between people, especially those fools who reverse means and ends just for the sake of methods.

When he was assassinated by Nicholas, he did not choose to resurrect and seek revenge despite Nicholas possessing the qualification and determination to inherit his role. Instead, Isaac chose to kindly relinquish his power.

And such was Isaac.

As he gradually became aware of the nature of the world, realizing that everything he did was purely for destruction; realizing that no matter what he did, it was all meaningless...

Could he really keep holding on?

Once he activated his cognitive filter, he might feel like a wise King living in a madman’s nation. The entire world around him would be completely incongruous with him.

He wouldn’t be accepted by any person or any force; his research, schemes, and efforts would all be meaningless. He couldn’t do anything, couldn’t achieve anything.

The only thing he could do was contribute his wisdom to the "meaningless mutual slaughter."

And this was precisely what Isaac feared the most.

—The Wizard’s War.

Thus, one can see the commonality between Isaac and Ofelia.

They both initially thought what they were facing was a "test," a "trial."

And when they persevered to the end,

They could realize that everything was just to torment them... to put their spirits in mortal danger, plunging them into true despair.

"This does sound quite like Danganronpa..."

Annan remarked.

He lifted his head and steadied his mind.

If he wasn’t mistaken.

Annan himself must be part of it. He couldn’t possibly be detached from it.

The dim yellow of endless internal strife, the green of wild nature, the gray of the steel city...

The worlds that ended quickly in between likely because they lacked a "protagonist." That is, they had no purifiers entering those worlds. Therefore, they were just simple apocalyptic movies, capable of conveying a modicum of despair but not deeply.

And the purifier who enters, would come to a world.

Experiencing the "tailor-made" sense of despair.

This world could be entered only up to ten times.

Meaning that the person who previously wrote "Odes to the Celestial Chariot," his experienced worlds, likely weren’t the worlds they’ve been through.

Considering that parts of the content in that book were fictional.

...Perhaps the final part about "love" is a fictional story. The whole story stops abruptly once the protagonist realizes they lack talent.

That might represent another sort of despairing world, themed with "light" or "white."

This nightmare just happened to have been experienced by someone once.

And the video tapes on Annan’s side were missing one.

These apocalyptic broken worlds, all share an overwhelming dominant color theme.

Just as outside Annan’s window, there was also an illusionary blood moon. Dyeing the entire world blood red.

Then, the world he himself was in...

Must also be in the "apocalypse" of this nightmare, not higher than these "tape worlds."

The current problem is...

The only missing video tape in this room.

That is the one labeled [357].

—Is it about "the name of the Celestial Chariot," that already used tape.

Or does it represent the world of this secret chamber where Annan currently resides?